2025/03/20 by Xiao, Yunlong, Liu, Xiangjing, Liu, Zhenhuan · 4 citations
#FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2503.16380
Quantum information cannot be broadcast -- an intrinsic limitation imposed by quantum mechanics. However, recent advances in virtual operations offer new insights into the no-broadcasting theorem. Here, we focus on the practical utility and introduce sample efficiency as a fundamental constraint, requiring any practical broadcasting protocol perform no worse than the naïve approach of direct preparation and distribution. We prove that no linear process -- whether quantum or beyond -- can simultaneously uphold sample efficiency, unitary covariance, permutation invariance, and classical consistency. This leads to a no-practical-broadcasting theorem, which places strict limits on the practical distribution of quantum information. By applying Schur-Weyl duality, we establish the uniqueness of the canonical 1-to-N virtual broadcasting map that satisfies the latter three conditions, provide its construction, and determine its sample complexity through semidefinite programming. Finally, we explore the interplay between virtual broadcasting and a quantum spacetime framework, known as the pseudo-density operator, showing that their correspondence holds only in the 1-to-2 case, underscoring the fundamental asymmetry between spatial and temporal statistics in the quantum world.